4/5
Stronger Together
Back to Blacc, Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III, AKA, Aloe Bacc, returns to the mainstream after a half decade out of the game (2020's 'All Love Everything' following his 'Christmas Funk' album). The 'I Need A Dollar' (off of his sophomore set 'Good Things') megahit singer has already proven that he is 'The Man' (from his 2013 'Lift Your Spirit') when it comes to harnessing huge hits from his hooks. No one hit wonder. Remember the late, great Avicii's 'Wake Me Up'? But now, he may have just given us his best album since his 'Shine Through' debut. Spearheaded by the soldiering solidarity single 'Don't Go Alone', 'Stand Together' is a call to arms that embrace in the face of all that is going on in the world right now. It's something we all need this New Music Friday, especially after what happened in The White House last week. This American singer and rapper from the boundless beauty of Laguna Hills, California, even tells the President to go to hell on a protest anthem in the face of all this disgrace. The not so United States of America may look like The Statue of Liberty in the Adrien Brody Oscar winning movie 'The Brutalist' right now, but Aloe it telling us, 'Not On My Watch'.
Watch this, and witness a pure and important poet of our generation telling us like it really is, in a time when we all need the word of God, or something just as spiritual. Blacc even covers a beautiful rendition of Marvin Gaye's ultimate protest song 'What's Going On', just like he did reworking The White Stripes' legendary 'Seven Nation Army', all to his own. From the single opening, to the titular close, 'Stand Together' is full of anthems of affirmation, painted like the worked denim carried on his shoulders, like the album artwork. 'Grow Together'. 'Daddy Told Me So'. Not to mention, love in the face of all this hate, like 'Love In Control', or the vision of 'My World'. Like his Emanon act with producer Exile, Aloe knows how to escape through the music, and this genre bender is truly special in its spiritual soul. Each of the dozen tracks come with a cause of philanthropy. With all this unifying sympathy, striving for more, name an album more important right now?
"What does it take to move a mountain/That no one wants to climb?/When they tell you there's no answer/How do you change the heart and mind?" Aloe asks, searching for 'One Good Thing'. Whereas the beat of 'Breakthrough' will inspire you towards your own one, as he adds, "Everyday is another chance for redemption/I paid my debts for the dirty deeds that no one needs to mention/For all the pain l've caused I apologize/With deep regret please forgive but don't forget/l've opened up my eyes/I'm not the same that I was way back/But now I'm getting my life on track/When it feels like everything's breaking down." Admitting his own flaws, that have made their way into the home that is his life, Blacc does not shy away from the shadows and the dark corners of his past. If he can make change like Obama, then surely we all can, like POTUS should.
On an album cover that looks like a clothing commercial, collaborated with the typography of a cosmetics company, Blacc is back in fashion, coming up like roses. Watch him 'Shine' like 'Aurora's Anthem' as the biggest soul star with chart crossover potential since Anthony Hamilton. Blacc's boldest and most beautiful work, marches forward when some of us are still forlorn about what happened in February. Alas, all broken hearts will be healed after this. Aloe Blacc vows to 'Never Let You Down' like Ye, before he went the other way. "Everyone deserves a little happiness/It's hard to find in these modern times/Where our minds are filled with all kinds of stress/But when therе's someone who's by your side/It makеs you feel like you can heal/And everything will be alright/There is somethin' about love/That you need to know/The more and more you choose to give/The more it grows." Wiser words have barely been sung. Now if we can only sing along...together. It's time to make a stand. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Don't Go Alone', 'Not On My Watch', 'What's Going On'.
Spin This: Anthony Hamilton - 'Ain't Nobody Worryin''.
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